No tea party recess on immigration

The tea party has a message for Republican senators who voted Thursday for the immigration bill and congressmen who might: Welcome home.

Activists are promising to spend the congressional recess reminding lawmakers who support the Gang of Eight legislation what the base is capable of. Think loud town halls, jammed phone lines and primary challenges down the road — echoes of Obamacare three years ago.

But conservatives aren’t united against immigration reform the same way they opposed Obamacare. Some tea party and GOP-affiliated groups including Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, American Conservative Union and Faith and Freedom Coalition have expressed support for the Senate’s bill, while acknowledging that the House will have to make some changes. Another group, TheTeaParty.Net, is supporting efforts toward immigration reform, but not the Senate bill, based on concerns of whether how border security provisions will be enforced.

Still, the majority of conservative groups are looking to replicate protests of previous years driven by Obamacare, the 2008 financial bailout, the stimulus bill, cap-and-trade bill and other Obama administration policies, which propelled the Republican House takeover in 2010. But after seeing President Barack Obama win re-election last year and GOP senators negotiate with Democrats, part of what’s driving the tea party is disappointment with the result of their electoral efforts and disenchantment with the Washington crowd.

“Some of these people have been up there so long and have been insulated and live in this bubble and aren’t connected to to the real world,” said Amy Kremer, chairwoman of Tea Party Express. “It’s this attitude of: They know better.”

Former Rep. Allen West, who has hinted he might challenge Sen. Marco Rubio in 2016, pointed to hidden details in the Gang of Eight bill that could cause the conservative base to lose trust in their lawmakers.

“When you get down into it, you see a lot of waivers and sweeteners and then it’s politically driven,” West said.

Kremer predicted that Republican lawmakers will avoid public appearances and other opportunities that might lead to an earful from an angered conservative base when they go back home this summer. Taped town halls became a hallmark of politics in previous summers, as lawmakers were filmed facing angry crowds or uncomfortable questions on both policy and topics like Obama’s birth certificate.

“When it gets hot in the kitchen, a lot of people run. I think folks in Tennessee understand that I usually take on the tough issues,” he said.

Corker said he’s faced pitchforks before when taking on the mortgage and the auto industries and expects to face plenty of angry constituents back home this summer as well. But on immigration, he expects eventually the outrage will be directed not at him, but those that voted against the bill.

“Once they understand what this amendment really does — in spite of the demagoguing of some of my colleagues — I think they’ll say: ‘Wait a minute. So people voted against 20,000 border patrol agents?” Corker said.

Cindy Lucas, a coordinator with the tea party-affiliated Martin County 9/12 Committee in Florida, said she spent this week trying to sway Rubio from supporting the bill. Next week she expects his phone lines to be “melted” by conservative complains and his offices in Florida barnstormed by agitated constituents, but she’s already moved to the next step.